Chapter 4 Kidnapping 2

----- Back in the village -----

"Uhhh"

Irene began to slowly open her eyes and looked around, still somewhat unconscious she began to search for something to help pull herself up, she ended up using a small chair that was next to her and then propped herself up onto it.

Irene finally began to slowly wake up and was piecing things together as to what had just happened, when she finally got things in order she looked around in distress seemingly looking for something in particular.

'Who were those three, they seemed way too professional to just be some random bandits or thieves. No, wait why did they even come here, Roy and Leah aren't rich nor do they have any special contacts, I'm certain of this' As Irene continued to ponder why those three would do what they did she slowly made her way around the room making sure that everyone was fine and nothing too bad happened.

First, she went up to the hunched down Roy and saw that he was fine and was just unconscious then she checked up on the two that were underneath him and realized that other than being in the clutches of a bear they were perfectly fine so she went to check up on Leah and that's when she saw it or rather didn't see it.

"Where's the kid?"

Upon saying this Irene rushed to Leah's side but as she only just woke up she stumbled and nearly fell over quickly slowing her down when she finally got to her side Irene began to search everywhere, and yet she couldn't find the baby anywhere.

She began to look in the other rooms just hoping that somehow he got over there without her knowing despite knowing more or less what actually happened she still had to have hope.

After searching the whole house twice over she finally came to the realization that he was probably taken.

'No no no, how could I let this happen, 'sigh' what am I going to tell Leah' While thinking about this she drew a look over at Leah and could see her hands fidgeting almost like they were searching for something or someone that just wasn't there.

As Irene was contemplating what she should tell Leah everyone else was also beginning to wake up as well, it was only a matter of time till Irene told them that their newest addition to their family was just kidnapped.

----- Back in the woods -----

"Here, stop, we've arrived where the carriage is supposed to be" The leader after telling his subordinates to stop then had a quick look around and probed the surroundings with a deep look trying to see if there was anyone in hiding, after seeing that there was no one else out there he took out a small ball and crushed it.

Upon crushing the ball, there was a turquoise-colored gas that slowly floated out of it and dissipated into the air.

Then they waited, after waiting for a couple of minutes nothing happened and the chatty one was about to ask what that ball was but upon remembering his boss's stare and his co-workers' threat he threw that idea away as quickly as it came.

However, the boss could feel his stare so while the carriage still hadn't got there he thought that he might as well tell them what it was that he used.

"It was a Twin Beacon ball, by crushing one the other person will be notified and when they crush theirs the smoke that comes out will lead them to the spot that the first one was crushed at. It's like if I propped up a large tower here but in a discreet way."

The two subordinates listening though they didn't dare show it on their face they were very surprised about the fact that their boss had one of those as they were typically used by mercenaries and adventurers when they went on missions so that they weren't separated for too long plus it cost a good buck for them.

A couple of minutes later and a carriage slowly pulled up alongside the road and stopped right where the three of them were waiting and hiding. The boss took the liberty of walking out first and then the other two quickly followed behind him. When all three of them got out of the woods the carriage door opened up and they heard a crispy male voice from inside.

"Stop, show me the kid"

The boss of the three upon hearing the voice stopped for a couple of seconds before getting the baby that was still wrapped up in a blanket and presented him forward, the man in the carriage seeing the perfectly healthy baby boy smiled slightly and looked back at the three of them.

"Good job, take this and give him here this ends our cooperation, I can trust that you didn't take anything from their house right?"

Upon finishing the sentence the man in the carriage threw a bag of coins at the silent one to the back and gestured for the leader of the three to pass the baby over.

When the three of them got the money and confirmation that it was all there the boss walked up to the carriage and placed the baby into the man's arms then said with a crooked smile "Pleasure doing business with ya."

With that said, he backed away and the three of them made their way back into the forest and out of sight.

Unbeknownst to anyone but Paul had been wide awake through this whole exchange and had been extremely confused throughout the whole thing.

Going back to the start of the exchange...

'Huh, why the hell is my face covered, what the hell is going on also why is it so chilly, I'm meant to be indoors I swear' whilst thinking this Paul could feel someone walking with him in his arms and trying to get the cloth off his face he began to struggle and try moving but he felt a cold stare seemingly penetrate through the cloth which shut down his attempts instantly.

'What the fuck was that!? That scared the shit out of me, is there some sort of animal in the house. Wait no it's too cold to be indoors who the hell takes a newborn baby outside so soon it's freezing' Paul was inwardly grumbling while he could hear faint voices outside but of course he couldn't understand squat about what was going on.

Soon enough he could feel a faint tugging at the cloth that was hanging on his face and when it finally came off he could see a smug young man staring right back at him that sent chills down his spine, this man had slicked back blonde hair that seemed to glisten in the moonlight with sky blue eyes that seemed to stare right through Paul, he had a monocle on his left eye that gave him a slightly mature vibe however it didn't take away from the smugness that seemed plastered onto his face.

Paul didn't know why but he could feel that he was being analyzed by the man like he was some sort of object to be appraised. after the man finished 'analyzing' Paul he looked up and seemed to be saying something but it all sounded like gibberish to Paul and then he saw the man throw a bag of money to another man behind him and was handed over to the man.

Whilst Paul was being exchanged he was slowly piecing together the information that he had and had begun to draw up a conclusion and a timeline as to what had happened to him.

'Ok, ok so I was born a while ago, however long it was after I was born it was a couple of minutes till I fell asleep again because evidently I'm a baby again so I have short energy reserves and after something exhausting like that I would obviously be sleeping. I remember that it was night when I looked out the window and it's currently still night so it's at least still the same night that I was born, either that or I've been asleep for a whole day but that's pretty unlikely. For now, I'll go with that it's still the same night that I was born.'

Looking around Paul had begun to see the group of bandits who had taken him and attempted to look at them more and find out some features about them, there were only 3 of them, the first one that got his attention was the one that had held him and handed him over. The first one was an average-sized man standing at around 1.75m with a burly build and a long scar going down his cheek, he had short black hair with a greasy luster clearly indicating he hadn't showered for a good time, with grey eyes that contained frightening bloodlust.

The next one that had drawn Paul's attention was the one that had received a small pouch that jingled once he caught it indicating that it might've contained a decent amount of coins. This man had a skinny frame with a thin, handsome-like face, he had a cloak covering the majority of his body so him being skinny is a visual conjecture due to his thin face, he also had medium-length black hair that was tied into a ponytail ensuring the hair can't get into his eyes, which were completely black emulating the terrifying darkness that seemed to swirl behind him.

The final person that was able to attract Paul's attention was a young-looking man with a skinny figure similar to the previous man but there was a clear difference between the two, mainly being the fact that this one has an afro and the other had straight hair. Along with the afro was a provocative face that seemed like it was constantly sneering at you, with thick goggles blocking his eyes, if it was an attempt to hide his identity then it was very poor as those goggles without a doubt make him seem more recognizable.